Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a point and click puzzle adventure game on Nintendo's DS system. The first installment of the Professor Layton series tells Professor Hershel Layton and his young apprentice Luke Triton's quest to find the Golden Apple, a mysterious inheritance hidden somewhere in the village of St. Mystere. Plot The game begins with Professor Layton and Luke on the road in the professor's Laytonmobile. They talk about a letter from a mysterious Lady Dahlia of St. Mystere. After talking about the letter and solving a rather puzzling map's secrets, the two arrive at the village. At the village, the pair meet numerous puzzle-obsessed denizens who speak of riddles and secrets all leading up to the mysterious "Golden Apple", the treasure of the Late Baron Augustus Reinhold. The pair make their way to Reinhold Manor and meet many of the family of the late baron. Layton and Luke begin to investigate the citizens of St. Mystere, solving whatever questions and puzles the people throw at them. As the game proceeds onward, the two begin uncovering secrets of the town wether it be the abandoned amusement park or the strange blank wall, located in front of the looming tower over St. Mystere. As night falls over the town, Layton and Luke help out some of the citizens and find themselves in a chase with a strange man, holding a large sack. They chase down alleyways and through the cramped villa near, however much to their avail, the old man escapes. But, Layton gets a quick glimpse on the contents of the sack: Ramon, the fieldworker of Reinhold Manor, was seemingly dead while lying in the sack. Failing at catching the kidnapper, the two head back to the inn and rest for the night. As dawn rises, Layton and Luke return to Reinhold Manor to discuss next steps. At the manor they find that Inspector Chelmey, London's finest detective sent to investigate the case, was actually the mysterious and brilliant Don Paolo, Professor Layton's self-proclaimed arch-rival. He escapes the manor and Layton and Luke make haste to solve this mystery. With helpful hints from some of the citizens uptown, the pair find access to the tower located at the north end of town. Once reaching the tower's entrance, Layton opens the door and the two fall into the basement of the tower. Inside, they meet the man who kidnapped Ramon and the old, tired man tells them of St. Mystere's true history. The town's citizens do not actually exist and are actually robots designed to build a community for the late baron's daughter, Flora. These citizens were built and maintained by the old man, Bruno. With the new-found information regarding St. Mystere's past, Professor Layton and his apprentice walk up the tower, solving the toughest riddles of the game. At the very top of the tower, the two find a cool and well-kept cottage. Layton and Luke enter the cottage and find themselves face-to-face with the young Flora Reinhold. Layton quickly realizes the entire mystery and speaks out that Flora is in-fact, the Golden Apple, the treasure of St. Mystere. While acquainting with her, a loud crash is heard and the professor runs to the window. Don Paolo, now equipped with his massive and deadly flying machine, attacks the tower, crushing most of the weak foundation. Layton, Luke, and Flora begin running down the spiral staircase down below, but only Luke makes his way to the bottom of the crumbling flight of stairs. Layton and Flora stay behind and head back to the cottage. Inside, Layton looks around the room for anything of value and use. He asks Flora for a string and takes a rack for the curtains in the finely-crafted room. He then breaks apart the over-sized globe in the room and builds of a small, but functioning glider. The two take flight and Don follows. Don and his machine begin tossing out giant spiked balls to attack and attempt to kill Layton. Layton, quick on his toes, finds his way dodging the attacks. He brings the glider close to Don's machine and rams into the back of the strangely constructed device. Don's flying machine goes in smoke and flies off into the distance, whereas Layton with Flora fall onto the ground. Now that they've been grounded, Layton and Flora reunite with Flora and Flora thanks them for saving her live. While hugging Layton, the professor notices an odd birthmark near Flora's shoulder. Layton and Luke take Ms. Reinhold back to Reinhold Manor to discuss where Flora'll go now that someone has come and made the young Flora smile again. At the manor, Layton gather's the group in front of the portrait of Flora in the foyer of the large home. Luke pushes the painting in a certain spot, and the bookcase near-by begins to reveal a secret pass. The group enter and find a room filled with golden jewels and treasure. The voice of the late Baron Reinhold his heard and the professor begins conversing with him. The voice tells Flora that she can have this lost fortune, but the town of St. Mystere will begin to shut down... permanently. After careful consideration, Flora declines the heads with Professor Layton on his adventures. The three leave Reinhold Manor and all of the citizens of the mysterious St. Mystere see Flora off as she enters the Laytonmobile and leaves the town forever. Gameplay The overall game play of Curious Village is based around regular point and click adventure games. The player uses the stylus and taps on various objects to do certain actions. In the beginning of the adventure, the professor describes how the game works and what to do in the over world of the game. Tapping on the suitcase enters Layton's Trunk, a place to find various collectibles thus far and allows a point to save the game's progress. Puzzles The game offers over 130 puzzles for the player to solve; (An extra 27 more available via Nintendo Wi-Fi connection) each puzzle is solved in a variety of ways from drawing lines, mathematics, or trying to move puzzling sliding blocks. All of the puzzles require the touch screen to do various things for these puzzles whether it be moving objects or writing numbers or letters. The game also offers three hints per puzzle to help assure the player can solve a puzzle. Solvling puzzles earn "Picarats" for the player. Picarats are a minor reward that measure the difficulty of a puzzle (rated 10 - 99 with 10 being easy and 99 being the hardest possible) as well as offer a special reward(s) for a player to obtain so many throughout the game's course. These special rewards are found in the bonuses section of the game and offer unique profiles of the characters, sound test, a player for the game's cut-scenes, and more. Puzzle List Category:Games released on the Nintendo DS Category:Games that are rated E Category:Games released in 2008 Category:Games by Level-5